Upshot Is That Judgment Creditors May Need To Pursue The Most Cost Effective Remedy.
In Wertheim, LLC v. Currency Corp., Case No. B304655 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Oct. 14, 2021) (published), the Court of Appeal determined that a judgment creditor’s pursuit of over $800,000 in fees against a judgment debtor where the base judgment was a little over $39,000 (although it had swelled to $250,000 with interest and costs) was disproportional to the judgment amount at issue. Put another way, disproportionality analysis can be used, in postjudgment fee proceedings with the key factor here being that judgment creditor failed to timely file a collection motion against a surety bond but opted instead to file a separate lawsuit where fees escalated. This opinion suggests that judgment creditors need to carefully think about using the most efficient postjudgment collection strategy in this area of the law. One of the things, though, that this opinion did not consider was that judgment creditor tried to negotiate an informal solution with the judgment debtor, which led to not timely filing a surety collection motion.
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